Help me find a little clarity (x-post)

[JennifersLost]

I have a habit of taking on too much. I'm trying to stop. I am starting school with my 10th grader tomorrow. We came up with our plan together. He made a schedule for his week based on it and gave it to me.

 

It looks like this week I need to:

 

1. Read Biology to keep up and prepare to do two basic labs this weekend.

 

2. Listen to his Latin translations on four days, plus do some vocab and grammar with him.

 

3. Skim a book we're using for his Planning class (easy bathtub-type read - just a chapter)

 

4. Read about 50 pages of our history book and listen to two Teaching Company lectures.

 

5. Read part of City of God, plus look online for info about the book so we can discuss it.

 

I think this will be a fairly typical week.

 

In addition, I have four kids. Each of them have 2 - 4 activities. I have to attend/drive to about 5 of those.

 

I am a writer with a finished manuscript that I'm shopping around. I still spend time writing each week, as well.

 

Here's where it gets tricky: I have been considering taking one or two courses myself. One is an accounting class at the local community college. I would go there one morning a week for three hours. The idea is to begin to acquire a skill that actually makes money. The other class is an online writing course (10 weeks) that would give me access to other writers (both teachers and other students) - the idea there is to find people to support my dream/help me improve my skills. I feel like I'm not "getting anywhere" with my writing.

 

To top it off, my 11-year-old announced today that he'd like to consider homeschooling this year. I'm not holding my breath that this will happen - he likes band, sports and the company of other kids. But he is frustrated with how slowly everyone else works. It could happen. I'm going to give him a few days to sit with the idea before I press for a commitment.

 

This is too much, isn't it? On the one hand I want to throw myself into the fray and just "make it all work". On the other hand I want a do-able schedule.

 

But the classes sound so much fun. And they're only half a year.

 

What would you do?

[Jane in NC]

Jennifer,

 

Now you realize why so many parents of high schoolers outsource!

 

I think that you need to find the balance of what must be read vs. skimmed. For example, I did not always feel compelled to read my son's history text or watch his Teaching Company lectures. My husband and I feel sufficiently well versed in history to discuss the big ideas while letting our son fill in any details.

 

Nor did I read each of the assigned works from WTM. My husband covered Inferno, I chose several selections (Bede, Shakespeare, etc.) and for others I relied on Sparknotes to help lead the conversation. We also listened to Teaching Company lectures on Dante and medieval literature in the car, on the way to and from hockey. I think that this seems fairly typical of many posters on this board.

 

Math is my subject so I expect to spend time on that every day. Checking Latin with the instructor's guide can take some time (especially when my memory fails on some esoteric point of Latin grammar), but French was the killer for me. I do French along with my son. This old brain just doesn't work as well as it once did so I find my French/English dictionary and French verb book are often visited friends.

 

My son ended up self teaching biology from the big Campbell book, using the accompanying study guide and online tutorials.

 

Your situation is not unique. Perhaps taking a single class, an opportunity to be in a "room of one's own", might help define your life outside that of a homeschooling parent without becoming a huge burden on your overall schedule in general.

 

Good luck.

Jane

[danielle]

I am famous for over committing. It's hard when you're interested in everything. At the beginning of each "semester", dd and I sit down with a sample daily/weekly schedule that lays out all waking hours in half hour increments (just making a table in WORD--days across the top, hours down the side). I work with her to lay out classes, activities, planned-for down time, harp practice, driving time to other activities, etc. We try to leave the hours from dinner at 7pm onward "free" but it doesn't always work. Then I go over her schedule with a highlighter and mark off all the times I don't need to be with her or driving her or waiting for her. That gives me the time I can plan for my own activities.

 

Do we stick to it? Not perfectly, but we try to, or revise anything that doesn't work at all after a week or two. Everything always takes longer, but over the years we've gotten a pretty good idea of what can be done. It also graphically lays out when you want to add something else or say yes to someone's request for your time, whether you really can.

 

I tend to say yes to everything, and she'll sign up for anything, but this puts some realism into the picture!

Danielle

[JennifersLost]

Thank you both for your insights. I think I really "ought" to take just one class.

 

Decisions, decisions......